The “new” life of the Enoteca Italiana of Siena: the goal is to reopen in 2024

Like the phoenix, the Enoteca Italiana has experienced great pomp and ruinous downfalls, only to finally be reborn to new life: the historic institution, founded in 1933 and permanently dissolved in 2017, after years of oblivion was awarded in June 2023 to a cordate of entrepreneurs - coordinated by Elena D'Aquanno and composed of economic subjects active in the fields of wine, tourism and catering - and is now ready to start again, amid plans for new openings (planned for Naples and Milan), partnerships of excellence with authoritative bodies and organizations-such as the Accademia Italiana della Vite e del Vino, which brings together the top experts and experts in the field of enology and viticulture and which will open an office in the city of the Palio, and the International Wine & Food Society, an international association with addresses in a great many countries-but also with a return to the historic location of the Medici Fortress. The goal is its reopening, scheduled for 2024.
In the past two months, the new brand holders have begun working on the rebirth of Enoteca Italiana and giving legs to the project, starting from the foundations: the headquarters. The goal is to restart exactly where it all began, the Medici Fortress in Siena: a space capable of hosting all the planned activities, starting, of course, with the permanent exhibition of wines selected, by a qualified commission. Alongside it areas for events aimed at wine knowledge and promotion, spaces dedicated to the combination of food and wine, as well as show cooking and tasting.
The Fortress, in the intentions of the entrepreneurs (discussions are underway with the new city administration to define the modalities of allocation) will be the hub of a larger project, which will radiate in Italy and abroad. The image is that of a compass that fixes its point on the ramparts, but gradually widens its range of action, touching the north and south of Italy with the opening of “branches” in Milan and Naples (in particular, for the latter, there are already a couple of hypotheses under consideration), and then abroad, starting with the West Coast of the United States. Another compass is the thematic one: the focus is obviously on wine, but the goal is to widen the radius to the entire agri-food sector and the many Sienese, Tuscan and Italian excellences inseparably linked to quality wines.
The history of the Enoteca Italiana began in 1933, as the “Mostra Mercato dei Vini Tipici d’Italia”: the purpose was to publicize, enhance and promote national wines and wine-making reality. From 1960 it became “Enoteca Italica Permanente”, then the entity, after some troubled years, was officially dissolved in 2017. After several unsuccessful auctions in the following years, in June 2023, the historic brand was awarded to a group of economic entities that came together for the occasion: Il Girasole srl, a company active in the area that has a significant network of contacts in the tourism and food and wine fields; the Vini di Toscana di Montepulciano company, an important reality in the area but with an international scope, which in turn consists of a plurality of companies operating on different fronts. To enrich the bouquet Mulinum, the first Italian farm to be born from an extraordinary crowdfunding operation, realized thanks to a young entrepreneurial initiative and the consequent response obtained through social networks.
Giving the project a scientific dimension and guarantee of quality is the partnership with the Accademia Italiana della Vite e del Vino, a moral body that brings together the greatest experts and scholars in the fields of enology and viticulture, founded in Siena in 1942 and currently active in Florence at the Accademia dei Georgofili: a collaboration aimed at restoring a role of primary importance to Siena and its territory as an attractive pole of the Italian oenological world, which will be substantiated, among other things, by the reopening of one of its offices in the city, destined to house part of its invaluable documentary and bibliographical archives, so as to be an active and integral part in the creation of initiatives, meetings, workshops, seminars and courses that will bring together the major academic excellences of the sector in Siena. Another partnership capable of creating a virtuous circle of knowledge exchange on an international level will be the one with the International Wine & Food Society, an international association founded in London in 1933, with branches in many countries and on every continent, but incredibly not in Italy. A partnership that will allow a greater protection of Italian wine in the world, through fruitful exchanges of knowledge, viticulture techniques, agri-food products, international supply chain policies, twinning between operators of different nationalities and opportunities for comparison, for a proper international diffusion of Italian products in the world.
The goal is to preserve the legacy of a reality that has made the history of Italian enology, renewing it and making it able to return to being a point of reference and a pole of attraction for enthusiasts and scholars, as well as an attractor of high-end tourism interested in getting to know the many local and national food and wine excellences, finding them in a single evocative place. So much so that, in these two months, numerous interlocutions have been had, both at an institutional level (first and foremost the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida, but meetings are also scheduled with the Regional Department of Agriculture and with Toscana Promozione), and at a private level, with wineries and illustrious names in the wine and food field interested in being part of the project.